Most Canadian medals at Winter Olympics: 26 in 2010

Canada's best bets for Olympic medals

What follows is a look at Canada's best bets to medal at the Sochi Olympics.

First, here is a list of other gold medal threats:

- Men’s hockey (Canada has never won a medal on the big ice outside North America, but still has a stacked roster than can challenge for gold)

- Women’s hockey (Canada has won the last three Olympic gold medals but the U.S. has won four of the last five world championships and it a slight favourite going into Sochi)

- Rosalind Groenewoud, freestyle skiing, halfpipe (The 24-year-old from Squamish, B.C. is coming off recent scope surgery on both knees but expects to be ready for Sochi)

- Kaya Turski, Freestyle skiing, slopestyle (The 25-year-old from Montreal is a three-time Winter X-Games champion and is the defending world champion who has a great shot at gold in a new Olympic sport.

(Words by Ted Wyman)

MARK MCMORRIS

SPORT: Snowboard, slopestyle

GOING FOR GOLD: Saturday, Feb. 8

VENUE: Rosa Khutor Extreme Park

HOMETOWN: Regina

WHY HE’LL WIN: How 20-year-old kid from the flatlands of Saskatchewan becomes an Olympic gold medal favourite in snowboarding is already a great story and McMorris seems likely to add a glorious final chapter. He is the two-time reigning Winter X-Games champion and won a silver medal at the World Championship last year in the new Olympic sport of slopestyle snowboarding. McMorris is already a huge name in his sport and is often compared to the world’s most famous snowboarder, Shaun White of the U.S.

(Photo: QMI Agency)

SIMON CLARK / JOURNAL DE QUEBEC

CHRISTINE NESBITT

SPORT: Long track speed skating

GOING FOR GOLD: Thursday, Feb. 13, Sunday, Feb. 16

VENUE: Adler Arena

HOMETOWN: London, Ont.

WHY SHE’LL WIN: Nesbitt, 28, is the defending Olympic gold medallist in the women’s 1000-metres and has eight career world championship gold medals to go along with four silvers and three bronze. She has not been as successful as usual during this World Cup season and must work to elevate her game in time for Sochi, but can certainly threaten for gold in both the 1,000m and the 1,500m.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images/AFP

BRAD JACOBS AND JENNIFER JONES

SPORT: Curling

GOING FOR GOLD: Thursday, Feb. 20 (women), Friday, Feb. 21 (men)

VENUE: Ice Cube Curling Center

HOMETOWNS: Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. (Jacobs), Winnipeg (Jones)

WHY THEY’LL WIN: Canada has never missed the podium in curling and is sending two very accomplished and red-hot teams this time around. Jacobs, 28, guided his team to a perfect record at the recent Olympic trials, while Jones, 39, is a four-time Canadian champion and former world champion who is one of the most decorated curlers in Canadian history. Jacobs is the reigning Canadian champion and world silver medallist. Both will be the favourites for gold in Sochi.

(Photo: QMI Agency)

Kevin King/Winnipeg Sun/QMI Agency

DOMINIQUE MALTAIS/MAELLE RICKER

SPORT: Snowboard cross

GOING FOR GOLD: Sunday, Feb. 16

VENUE: Rosa Khutor Extreme Park

HOMETOWN: Petite-Riviere-Saint Francois, Que.

WHY SHE’LL WIN: She might not, but if she doesn’t, the odds are her teammate Maelle Ricker will. It’s really a toss-up as to which is the gold-medal favourite at this point. Ricker won the Olympic gold in 2010 and is the defending world champion, but Maltais won silver last year at the worlds and is looking to peak this year in Sochi. The coin flip gives it to Maltais.

(Photo: QMI Agency)

DIDIER DEBUSSCHERE/JOURNAL DE QU

MIKAEL KINGSBURY

SPORT: Freestyle skiing, Moguls

GOING FOR GOLD: Monday, Feb. 10

VENUE: Rosa Khutor Extreme Park

HOMETOWN: Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Que.

WHY HE’LL WIN: Kingsbury is favoured to edge out teammate Alexandre Bilodeau, who became the first Canadian to win a gold medal on home soil in 2010 in Vancouver. The 21-year-old Kingsbury won the world championship gold medal last season in Voss, Norway and came out on top of a 1-2 finish with Bilodeau at a recent World Cup event in Finland.